Korean government seeks sales suspensions for Volkswagen models

The Korean government is considering a sales suspension and cancellation of authorizations for roughly 70 Volkswagen and Audi models sold in the nation since 2007 that were found to have used fabricated documents. Kim Min-ji has the latest on the emissions scandal.

Korea’s environment ministry is currently reviewing the records of roughly 70 Volkswagen and Audi models sold in Korea suspected of having passed local certification procedures with fabricated documents on emissions and noise tests.

If this turns out to be true, the ministry plans to suspend sales of unsold vehicles, slap the Korea office with fines for cars already sold, and order a recall. Although it’s not yet known how many vehicles might be subject to the punitive measures, the numbers are expected to be somewhere between 100,000 and 150,000 or between 40 to 60 percent of the 250,000 vehicles sold since 2007.

This builds on a probe into Audi Volkswagen Korea over suspicions of irregularities that came to light in the wake of the so-called diesel-gate scandal, in which the German automaker was found to have used a cheat device to manipulate emissions data. Prosecutors also recently summoned a former executive of the local unit over his alleged involvement in the scandal.

Last month, Korea’s environment ministry for a third time rejected Volkswagen’s plan to recall the vehicles in question, this time, as the local office failed to admit to using a cheat device. Previously, the plans were turned down for lacking information.